Wednesday, February 21, 2018

“No, this was something we categorize much more so as a pure baseball decision. Given what was put to us and how we valued it was something that a couple of guys that are not far off from the big leagues to add to what we have to build that momentum.

The moves prior to this one were things that factors involved there were moving pieces from areas of depth that we felt we could absorb and come out the other side o.k. Especially with the addition of C.J. [Cron] to our group there.

This one here, was one that was really initiated and driven by Arizona’s pursuit of Steven and their desire to add him to their club.

It’s certaionly something we weren’t out there looking to accomplish but basically at the end of the day here something was put to us that we felt we couldn’t pass up in terms of continuing to build out our really strong core.”

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I give Tampa the benefit of the doubt, since 2008 they've been competitive more often than not. They seem to have a pretty good handle on what they are doing. The Marlins are just an embarrassment. I don't have any faith in their ability to put anything together.

Hmmm, both Florida State and UofM have historically been among the nation's best college programs. I have lost track in recent years, but my vote would be one of them rather than the Marlins or Rays.

...

I'm not sure which is worse, being a fan of the Rays/Marlins where they are up front about their intentional suckage, or being a fan of the recent Braves who try to tell us Atlanta fans that, "we clearly are competing; look, we've added all-stars like Brandon Phillips, Bartolo Colon, Jason Grilli, and Matt Kemp."

I love how the guy talks about how they're gonna win with pitching and defense (which to be fair is really good). But that's all you can say when you'd dumped every single power hitter on the team. Seriously. I'm a Rays fan and I can't name one guy who I'd expect to hit 20 HR this season.

Oh, I'm sure you could name a bunch of guys who you'd expect to hit 20 HR this season. It's just that none of them play for the Rays.

I'll take the over on somebody hitting 20 for the Rays next year. I just don't know who. Last year 117 players, almost 4 per team, topped 20 homers. Most likely candidates:

Brad Miller, who hit 30 2 years ago
C.J. Cron, if he plays enough
Wilson Ramos, if healthy
Jake Bauers, if he plays enough
Ryan Schmipf, if he plays enough
Kevin Kiermaier, who hit 15 last year in only 98 games.

Other than Ramos and Kiermaier, the other guys are not locks to get a lot of playing time or might miss 20 homers because they are platooned. But one thing we can be sure is they can form a platoon at first, or third, or DH, or either corner outfield, but they can't platoon at all of those spots. Like every other team they'll use their roster for a deep bullpen and not Earl Weaver style platoons. So a couple of the guys on that list will wind up with regular playing time, and at least one or two of them is going to crack 20 dingers. Not that it's even a big deal, last year the average MLB player per 600 PA hit 20 homers.

#23 can you fill in some of the details? Just looking over their roster and it looks like a 70-win team. Keirmaier is great, Archer is great, and Snell/Faria have potential, but the infield is an embarrassment, Span/Mallex are two 5th outfielders starting ... I mean, it looks rough.

#23 can you fill in some of the details? Just looking over their roster and it looks like a 70-win team. Keirmaier is great, Archer is great, and Snell/Faria have potential, but the infield is an embarrassment, Span/Mallex are two 5th outfielders starting ... I mean, it looks rough.

#23 can you fill in some of the details? Just looking over their roster and it looks like a 70-win team. Keirmaier is great, Archer is great, and Snell/Faria have potential, but the infield is an embarrassment, Span/Mallex are two 5th outfielders starting ... I mean, it looks rough.

I'm out of my element with BPro stats, but looks like Kiermaier and Archer with good years (4.0 and 3.5 WARP, respectively), and not a whole lot else! Good starting pitching (everyone projecting to be solid after Archer, 2-5). 2nd best position players is tie between Ramos and Duffy, and they don't look great. I don't understand it at all.

Hmmm some of it at least is defense: they have them as 2nd in the majors in FRAA (best in the AL, best in the division by a lot). No idea if that's a good bet or not.

30 WAR is 78 wins ... unless they've changed replacement level again or I've forgotten what the Great Treaty of Aught 9 set it at. (I actually think it was sometime after 09 but never pass up an opportunity to use "aught")

The Rays do seem to have some interesting looking young pitchers. And if Span has any wheels left whatsoever, an OF of Span, Kiermaier and Gomez should certainly go get them ... but I thought the analytics hubbub was that OF defense wasn't worth that much by statcast. Sheesh, Statcast hates Span, makes him the anti-Kiermaier so I'm guessing there's somebody else for LF.

C'mon now #7 ... the money they saved on Dickerson they spent on Cron; the money they saved on Souza they spent on Gomez; the money they saved on Longoria they spent on Lamborghinis; the money they saved letting Cobb walk they spent on a new vacation home. I hear everything left over is just going to be waved in front of YR's face until his head explodes.